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When it comes to professional athletes and injuries, it is usually the odd, non-play mishaps that make the player infamous. Throughout the history of sports, there have been players who have pulled a back muscle while playing Scrabble (Lionel Letizi,) broken a rib after getting food poisoning and vomiting (Tom Glavine,) burned their eyes when putting in contacts because they forgot to wash their hands after handling jalapenos (Bret Barberie,) and injured their knee after getting a new puppy and slipping in a puddle of urine (Darren Barnard.) The list goes on and on, and unfortunately, being famous makes embarrassing situations even worse! As you can imagine, injuries to the foot and ankle can happen in very unexpected ways as well.

“Never Nervous Pervis” Ellison made the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. Unfortunately, he was plagued by frequent and assorted injuries that kept him sidelined throughout a good portion of his career. Ellison’s most notorious injury happened late in 1996 when he was moving furniture and dropped a table on his big toe. At the time, he was playing for the Boston Celtics, but this injury kept him out for most of the 1996-1998 seasons.

José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz is a Spanish footballer goalkeeper (soccer goalie in American terms) who retired in 2008 at 39 years old after playing in 500 league matches during his 2-decade career. After a streak of bad luck in 2002, he missed out on playing in the World Cup due to an injury that required surgery. Apparently, Cañizares was in a hotel room at the team’s training base in Jerez, Spain when he accidentally broke a bottle of aftershave. A shard of the glass pierced his foot and severed a tendon, temporarily disabling him.

In 2003, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio placed a stump of wood with an axe in the players locker-room to symbolically represent the theme that the players needed to “keep choppin’ wood.” Several members of the team took a few swings at the stump with the axe. When it was Chris Hanson’s turn, he ended up seriously wounding his non-kicking foot. This injury kept him out for the rest of the 2003 season.

In 2007, Ohio State Buckeye wideout Ted Ginn Jr. scored a touchdown return on the opening kickoff of the BCS National Championship Game against the Florida Gators. While celebrating, Ginn’s left foot was injured when teammate Roy Hall slid into him and sat on his foot. He left the game shortly thereafter, and didn’t return.

Any of these scenarios could happen to anyone. We have all moved furniture, broken glass, excitedly participated in a symbolic activity, and for the true fans out there, done a little victory dance or two. For the most part, we get through these things uninjured. Fortunately, if you have a mishap, Dr. Bello with Advanced Foot Care Centers in Dalton, GA has you covered. If possible, at the time of your injury write down exactly how the injury happened and what position your foot was in when it happened. Then, give us a call at (706) 259 – 6882 to set up your appointment.